A
former orthopedic surgeon, Price has an impressive record in
the healthcare field. He is also a vocal critic of the Affordable
Care Act, the healthcare law better known as Obamacare, and his
appointment perhaps signals Trump's seriousness in intending to
dismantle the law.

"The Trump administration's mantra has been that the ACA is a
disaster and the only way to fix it is to repeal and replace it,
and this appointment seems to confirm that idea," Timothy Jost, a law professor and health-policy
expert at Washington and Lee University who supports the ACA,
told Business Insider.

Price has been at the forefront of congressional fights to repeal
and replace President Barack Obama's signature legislation.

While Trump's own details on how to replace the law
have been spotty, Price has written legislation called the
Empowering Patients
First Act, which would repeal most of the sections of
Obamacare and shift toward what Republicans call a "market-based"
approach.

How it would work

Price's plan would significantly restructure the benefits given
to Americans without health insurance through their employer or
the government. Price's plan structures tax credits based on age
brackets — $1,200 for people ages 18 to 35 and up to $3,000 for
those 50 and older. This is different from the ACA, which bases
its tax credits on the income of the patient.

Another key aspect of Obamacare — one Trump has said he would
consider keeping — that prevents insurers from denying coverage
based on a preexisting condition, would change. Under Price's
proposal, people would be able to continue coverage if they
shifted from the employer market to the individual market, but
only if they have no interruptions in coverage. Thus, a break in
care would allow insurers to deny coverage to people with an
illness.

For those who do not maintain that care, Price's plan would
institute state-level high-risk pools to help cover them. The
Price plan would provide $1 billion in federal funding to help
control costs for these pools. The Commonwealth Fund, however, a
nonpartisan health-policy think thank, estimates that these pools
would
require well over $170 billion a year in federal funding to
cover those who today have ACA-based plans.

The expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare would also be rolled
back under Price's plan, shifting roughly 15 million people from
the government-sponsored insurance to the individual marketplace.
The expansion provided coverage for those making roughly $16,490
and below annually. Questions loom over, even with a subsidy, how
affordable it will be for those people to obtain plans on the
individual market.

In total, Price's proposal bears much of the same hallmarks of
plans from Republican other congressional leaders, such as House
Speaker Paul Ryan, who called Price the "absolute perfect choice"
for the position in Trump's Cabinet.

"We could not ask for a better partner to work with Congress to
fix our nation's healthcare challenges," Ryan said in a
statement.

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

'Asking the fox to guard the hen house'

The appointment of Price has drawn criticism from Democrats and
advocates of the Affordable Care Act. Sen. Chuck Schumer of New
York, the incoming Senate minority leader, said Price's
healthcare proposals were "far out of the mainstream of what
Americans want."

"Nominating Congressman Price to be the HHS secretary is akin to
asking the fox to guard the hen house," Schumer's statement said.

Jost said Price's proposals would, incidentally, end up hurting
many of the people who elected Trump to the White House.

Price's plan "shows where we're heading," Jost told Business
Insider. "It will help wealthier people and does nothing to help
the working-class people who actually voted for Trump."

Critics point to potential rollbacks of provisions in the ACA
that compel insurance companies to provide certain types of care,
meaning insurance companies could exclude comprehensive coverage
needed by sick people. For older individuals, Price's plan would
take away the provision linking what insurers can charge young
people compared with seniors, providing the potential for
insurers to increase rates for older people with chronic-care
needs.

Even the majority of Americans who get their insurance through
their employer, Jost said, might see their costs increase under a
Price-type plan. Those with insurance through their workplace
currently do not pay federal taxes on premiums and other
health-related payments — such as health savings accounts and
health reimbursement arrangements — paid to these plans.

Price's plan would cap the amount of healthcare spending that is
non-taxable at $20,000 for a family and $8,000 for an
individual. While such a provision could hurt affordability for
those with employer-based insurance,
according to the Tax Policy Center, the exemption cost the
federal government $250 billion in lost taxes in 2015.

Jost also suggested many of the provisions in Price's plan — such
as state-level tribunals for malpractice cases and limitations on
what patients may use in cases as evidence against a doctor — are
designed to guard physicians from patients.

"The bill should probably be called 'Empowering Doctors First,'"
Jost told Business Insider. "He's a doctor, and it's clear he is
trying to shield doctors."